


Ashen Coat

by Bellflower



Category: Samurai Warriors (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Oda Nobunaga - Freeform, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:35:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21698599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellflower/pseuds/Bellflower
Summary: Gunpowder swirled in the air, dancing in shapes between flame, not burning up like it should, and Mitsuhide pushed himself through the intense heat as laughter echoed in his ears. There was someone who could be saved in there, right? His dream-self remained ignorant until a shade of Hisahide stepped into his vision, body coated by burns and black soot all over, and touched his chin.For Trope Bingo round 13's amnesty round, and the prompt 'deal with the devil.'
Kudos: 5
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Thirteen





	Ashen Coat

Mitsuhide had always been afflicted by nightmares; their war-torn world made it inevitable and his gentle heart made every kill he made on the battlefield a heartache for him. The ghosts of every soul lost in the chaos, especially those struck down by his own bloodied blade, lingered in his head and visited him night after night to make their pain known.

Now Matsunaga Hisahide was amongst those ghosts. Mitsuhide had not struck him down directly but it still felt so personal, so raw, so close to being something he could have stopped that perhaps it had been inevitable. 

Gunpowder swirled in the air, dancing in shapes between flame, not burning up like it should, and Mitsuhide pushed himself through the intense heat as laughter echoed in his ears. There was someone who could be saved in there, right? His dream-self remained ignorant until a shade of Hisahide stepped into his vision, body coated by burns and black soot all over, and touched his chin.

"Do you see it, Mitsuhide?" Hisahide sounded gleeful, almost manic. "This is the fate I took for myself! It belongs to me, and nobody else... this demon refused to bow to a pretender who would call himself a 'Demon King!' I am beyond him now!" 

"Lord Hisahide... we need to escape, you'll die, I..."

"Don't be so stupid! So ridiculous! I am dead already! You're still alive... you're the only one who needs to escape! Are you going to? Or will you sit at his feet while he grinds you into the mud and steals your soul?"

The shade of Hisahide stepped around him while Mitsuhide fell into silence, the flames licking at his feet and starting to spread but without any sign of burning him up. He didn't know how to respond, couldn't find the words. Him? Lord Nobunaga? That's right... Hisahide had... he'd... and Lord Nobunaga had walked away... 

"Enjoying my fate, Mitsuhide? I see, I see. You're so single-minded, so foolish! But I'll let you stay, if you like." Hisahide drew to a stop and this time pressed a finger against Mitsuhide's lips, startling him out of his thoughts. "Take it with you! Burn it all up! I'll help the fire spread, just for you... would you like that?"

It was too much. Eyes widening, Mitsuhide took one step back but nonetheless reached out to grab Hisahide by the neck of his clothes; Hisahide _exploded_ into ash the moment he did, though, coating Mitsuhide from head to toe. Yet he still laughed, long and hard. 

"It's decided, then! I'll see you there... we'll dance in the inferno together!"

And when Mitsuhide woke up it was instead sweat that coated him, heart thundering in his chest as the words of Hisahide's shade echoed in his skull, loud and impossible to ignore. Other things from the dream would fade in the coming days but the promise of fire, of a helping hand in some kind of necessary escape, would never go away.

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Sardo, with whom I've had many conversations about Hisahide and who has helped shaped many of my thoughts on the man. Thank you so much!


End file.
